Tag Archives: painting

The Unique Vision of Edvard Munch

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Sue Prideaux, author of Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream, wrote a feature article on the artist for the summer edition of Tate Etc. magazine to accompany the Tate Modern’s exhibition,“Edvard Munch: The Modern Eye.”

Prideaux writes about how Munch was affected by spiritualism and use of developing camera technology. In his photography, Munch experimented with the exposure and other processes to achieve supernatural effects that suggested “spirit images” and dopplegängers. Even paintings like “Madonna” (above) were influenced by photographs that claimed to capture the aura emitted by all living beings.

Read more to learn about Edvard Munch’s unique vision and how the arts of looking and painting in the Modernist period were changed by that period’s new technology.

– Naomi Kuo, Slow Art Day Intern

Looking Slowly Means a Workout For Your Eyes

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Some works of art seem to inherently invite a slower, more involved viewing experience. New American Painting contributor Brian Fee would agree in regards to Shara Hughes’ richly colored paintings currently exhibited at the American Contemporary in New York.

In his review of her work, Fee takes the idea of looking slowly to the next level. The word “slow” can make us think of being lethargic, but looking and engaging with a work of art, as Fee suggests, is a lot like physical exercise. He describes visually exploring Hughe’s paintings as “giving your oculars a calisthenic workout,” and warns against an un-energetic approach (“Go into this half-heartedly and you’ll leave with soft-scrambled brains”).

Hughes’ bold and adventurous paintings certainly do exude energy and invigorate the viewer. Take a slow (but intense) look at her paintings through Lee’s eyes in his review or through your own at the American Contemporary and get in a visual and imaginative workout.

– Naomi Kuo, Slow Art Day Intern